Strength |✔️

twenty-five

Neil

Feeling someone tap me on the shoulder, I groan and pull the blanket over my ears. That's when someone snatches the blanket away from me, and I yell, "Hey! Who did that?!" My eyes open up to see Alisha, laughing as she clutches the blankets in her hand. "Neil, you need to get up! We have to leave in thirty minutes."

"It's not going to take me thirty minutes to get ready, Alisha," I say.

"But still," she replies, raising her eyebrows. "You are Monika's family member. You have to arrive there early."

I groan. "But I just want to sleep!"

Alisha laughs again and rolls her eyes. I start to laugh as well, but when I see what Alisha's wearing, my face immediately starts to warm up. She is wearing a beautiful silk sari and she has her hair done in bouncy curls. Her red lips look back at me with such desperation for me to kiss, which I really do want to kiss. "Wow," I say. "You look... hot." I gulp.

Alisha smiles and comes towards me, sitting on the bed. When I said she looked hot, I wasn't joking. Her rich Indian jewelry twinkles back at me, and her picturesque eyes gleam in the morning glow. Her curvy body stands out and proud in that sari, and at this point all I want to do is rip it off. Then, I think about how all i'm wearing is my boxers and that I should probably go get ready for Monika's wedding.

After the argument Dad and I had yesterday, it seemed as if there was a big drift between us. Mom, Mahi, and Monika and I were good, but it's just Dad where it seems awkward. When I left his room, I gave Alisha her birth pills and apologized to her for creating these sorts of problems for her, like how I almost got her pregnant. Alisha, of course, accepted my apology, but I still felt guilt. I didn't want to seem that type of guy, the guy that would get a poor girl pregnant.

These days seem to fly by so fast. It seemed like just yesterday when I ran into Alisha at the first day of college. And now look at us: dating. I smile and Alisha looks at me curiously. "What's wrong, Neil?"

I shake my head and stand up. "Nothing," I say. Alisha smiles back and turns to the mirror to look at herself.

I grab my kurta, which is a rich navy blue fabric that is long sleeved and collared and goes to my knees. The loose-fitted leggings on the bottom are white and I wear gold-encrusted moccasins as my shoes. I adjust the white rose put in my breast pocket, but then Alisha comes near and smacks my hand. "I got it," she says. She adjusts my rose, and as she's inches away from me, I just figured out that we are matching. She grins at me. "Neil, you look so handsome."

I scoff. "All I did was roll out of bed ten minutes ago, take a shower, sprint some cologne on, brush my hair, and put on this 500 pound outfit."

She rolls her eyes. "You think that's 500 pounds? Try wearing this."

I study her and laugh. "Honestly, let's see how you would look like without that sari on." I wink.

"Neil!" She yelps. I laugh and she starts laughing too. I told her what had happened between me and my dad, and she felt bad. Alisha told me that she didn't want to cause any family issues, but I told her that's not the case, that she's not doing anything wrong, which she really isn't.

She finally gets the rose adjusted and brushes down my rich kurta and my hair. When she's done, she sighs and admires me. "There. Much better."

I look in the mirror and see us both, and to be honest, we both look hot. Alisha sighs and opens the door, grabbing her phone and her purse. 

I couldn't help but blurt, "You know, it actually seems like we're the ones getting married instead."

Alisha laughs. "You keep on dreaming lover boy."